Challenges of daily life Lifestyle in the Avar Period

During their life, the people interred in the Avar Period cemeteries in Bács-Kiskun County often did physically demanding work. Due to that, the symptoms affecting older people today (spinal complaints, herniated discs, and articular disease) appear in relatively young individuals (Kelebia Grave 461, Nagykőrös Grave 59, Kecskemét–Mercedes Grave 3142). The attachment sites of the muscles and joints are, in most cases, expressed due to strenuous physical activity; the patterns (the combinations of bones or body parts with such surfaces) outline diverse activities, including horse riding (Kelebia Grave 370, Szentkirály Grave 4). The numerous bone fractures were perhaps also related to riding (Soltvadkert Grave 241, Kelebia Graves 386 and 515).
Albeit their contemporaries saw Avars as fierce warriors, the proportion of perimortem traumatic lesions that were certainly caused by weapons is insignificant, mainly because after the first decades following their arrival in the Carpathian Basin, which abounded with military campaigns, the Avars lived there in relative peace for about another century and a half.
A 40–45-year-old man in the cemetery at Kelebia likely died from the forceful blow made by a sharp object, probably a very sharp sword, along the midline of his forehead. The cut practically divided the frontal bone in two, causing imminent death. Based on the angle of the cut, the sword must have been in the left hand of the attacker who was in front of the man (Kelebia Grave 490). The traumatic lesion on the right cheekbone of a 19–22-year-old man was caused by a blunt object. It was not lethal but did not show traces of healing either. As to why, the analysis of his backbone offered a possible explanation: traces of a single definite and slightly slanted cut could be observed between the last cervical and the first thoracic vertebra; it must have also cut through the spinal cord, causing imminent death (Kelebia Grave 432).
The analysis of the teeth can provide plenty of information on the lifestyle and diet of individuals and communities. The frequent appearance of tartar (Kelebia Grave 191) and the infections starting from carious teeth and causing cysts and abscesses in the mandible (Kelebia Graves 434 and 208) reflect the generally poor oral hygiene of the population. Accordingly, it was not rare for one to lose all their teeth by fifty (Szentkirály Grave 4). Besides poor oral hygiene, using the teeth as tools also left marks on them. Mostly V-shaped grooves formed on the surface of some teeth in the front, like canines, due to a repeated activity that involved these parts getting in contact with some object (for example, a nail, a needle, or some kind of string) (Kelebia Grave 221).